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Saturday, 14 June 2014

Recently I did my longest drive so far covering Bangalore - Madurai - Kodaikanal - Bangalore in my Estilo car. With this blog, I'll talk about the drive, route, road condition, distance, and of course the places.
This is the 2nd and final part of the series. For the first part, click here.

Day 3:

Indica was ready to take us for sight-seeing. We started with a visit to Kuranji Andaver Temple. This temple is dedicated to Lord Muruga. From left side of temple, one will get a view of Palani. In day time, we could not really make out Palani but car driver said during night, one can see the lights of Palani. From right side of temple, one will get a view of Kodai city.

Kodai City View

Our next place was Coaker's walk. It is 1KM stretch for walk with an amazing view of valley and forest.

View from Coaker's walk

Telescope view from Coaker's walk

Next was Upper Lake view. One will get a view of Kodai lake.

Upper Lake View

Pine Forest was beautiful.

Pine Forest

Info about Pine Forest

Next spot was Pillar Rock. Details are captured in photo. When we reached this spot, climate dramatically changed and mist had covered the place. It was a beautiful experience.

Pillar Rock

Info about Pillar Rock

Next we went to Green Valley View (previously known as Suicide point). Since mist had covered completely, we couldn't really see anything on this spot except Monkeys!

Mist covered in Green Valley View

It was a lunch time and we went to supposedly one of the best Vegetarian hotel in Kodai - Astoria Veg. We got South Indian meals and it was pretty good in taste. Till now except for Green valley and pillars rock, Kodai was sunny. After lunch, cloud covered the city and it started raining heavily. We waited for some time and when it stopped, we took car to proceed towards Kodai Lake.

We took row boat for 20mins drive. It was first time boating for my kid and he just enjoyed every moment. Some of the snaps at Kodai Lake.

Luckily, for these 20mins, rain had stopped. Once we reached the bank, it started again heavily. With Kodai lake, we finished the sight seeing and came back to resort.

We did not visit Moier Point, Guna Caves, Chettiar park and Bryant park though these were part of sight-seeing package.

The places which were not part of package and we didn't cover are: Silent Valley View, Berijiam Lake View, Dolphin Nose, Berijiam Lake, La Saleth Church and few others.

We spent evening at resort. Since it was rained, the weather was cool and misty.

Valley view from Resort

Heaven!

Day 3 was well spent amidst nature and peaceful environment. Thinking that next day is going to be another exciting drive from Kodai to Bangalore, mind automatically went for sleep.

Day 4:
Our plan B was to visit Palani from Kodai and then Palani to Bangalore. Locals told us that Palani will be hot just like Madurai and since we had just experienced the heat in Madurai, we decided to drop Palani and return to Bangalore.

Our plan was to leave Kodai at 8AM. Since breakfast got delayed, finally we started at 9AM. Wife bought carrot and other fresh vegetables and we started descending Kodai. Here are some data for a quick reference.

From Bhathlagundu, we have to take left towards Dindigul. This stretch is state highway and road is very good. Once we reached NH7 at Dindigul, it was another amazing ride on NH7 on the way back to Bangalore. We couldn't find any decent hotel for lunch. At Salem, we stopped at a hotel and had Chapathi for lunch. Perhaps, we might have missed some good hotels.

For light snack in evening, we again stopped at A2B (Adyar Ananda Bhavan) after Krishnagiri. After a plate Idly and a hot filter coffee, we proceeded towards namma Bangalore.

When we crossed Hosur, the amazing drive had turned to typical Bangalore traffic drive. All the excitement-till-now had automatically turned into frustration. Oh my Bangalore, there you are!

So, it's time to put summary data:

Route

Bangalore - Madurai - Kodai - Bangalore

Road Condition

Very Good

Distance Covered

1047 KMS

At last, we reached home and there was a high satisfaction on completing the most exciting journey so far in my life. Yes, I alone drove 1047 kms! And Wife and Son looked at me and their smile said "We did it!"